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Amazon.co.uk Review
Potato lore permeates his monologue--even seeping into a marvellously tuberous description of the Sharp clan's physiognomy: "We were a plug-ugly Anglo-Saxon family. Yes, we were. White and skinny or white and lumpy: that was the choice our genes offered us." Progeny, human and vegetable in John's case, is Pears' overriding theme. There's a remarkable neatness here. Pears is very adept at tidy but believable contrasts: John's scientism is marked against his wife Lily's New Ageism; Lily's adventurous cooking is in turn compared to John's mother's ability to drain food of its taste, while Greg's entrepreneurial vigour is sharply contrasted with their late father's inability to get beyond running a single fruit and veg stall. These binary motifs drive the novel; making John a robust, if sometimes obnoxious, figure and giving the whole thing a pleasing cohesion. There's a slightly annoying, final twist (Frankenspud turns out to be John's second genetic monstrosity) but this inventive and actually very funny novel asks serious questions about the responsibilities, and possible dangers, of scientific "progress". --Travis Elborough --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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The book is written in the first person from John's perspective, as he drives repetetively round their town's ring road, in a state of complete indecision - how can he tell Greg of this new development? As he drives, he remininsices on their life story, and as the book develops, we learn more and more about John's character. By the end of the book the reader is left with no illusions about John, and yet, there is a revelation waiting for us which shows how far he has gone in his quest to achieve perfect produce.
The book is quite easy to read, and the reader's interest is maintained throughout. John turns out to be a complex character with some unusual tastes. The psyche of the male is stripped bare and although the result is shocking, many men will relate to John's honesty about his inmost feelings. Whether women will like what is revealed is another matter.
I finished this book in about three days and realise that although it was in some senses an easy read, there is actually much in there to think about and it would be an excellent choice for a reading group or for the solitary reader who likes being challenged rather than comforted.
-as a female, yes I did like it-always good to get a look at the male Psyche
-was the baby truly cloned (as opposed to IVF or similar)?
John's thoughts wander all over the place and he frequently changes them ("Did I say (I met my wife this way, etc.) earlier? Oh no, that's not what happened at all; it was like this:..."), which kept annoying me.
Listening to John prattle on about his life never quite could get me as interested in him as I wanted to be, so the book's events never really mattered much to me. I will admit, however, that I wasn't expecting the surprise revealed at the end of the book.
Would I recommend this book to others? Probably not. I didn't really like it and ultimately, that's what I read for - enjoyment. No enjoyment out of the book means it wasn't worth my time. Good thing it was short.
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